Amended CLARITY Act Bill Frustrates the Crypto Community: Who Really Benefits?
The newly released CLARITY Act bill text has drawn criticism, as many believe it primarily benefits large crypto firms and banking interests over smaller players and DeFi.Summary
The release of the bipartisan, 278-page CLARITY Act market structure bill text has caused significant frustration within the crypto community. While some criticism targets provisions favoring banking interests, a major concern is that the bill is structured to benefit large, established crypto firms like Coinbase and Circle.
Regulatory critic Aaron Day argues that sweeping compliance obligations—including real-time trade surveillance, expanded registration, and mandatory qualified custodians—will significantly raise operating costs, creating a structural advantage for incumbents who can afford these burdens. He suggests this codifies their competitive edge into law and benefits analytics firms like Chainalysis through mandatory surveillance.
Furthermore, the proposal threatens permissionless finance, potentially requiring protocol developers to register, which Day argues breaks the core philosophy of Decentralized Finance (DeFi). Ultimately, Day contends the bill reflects regulatory capture, where incumbents help write rules that favor them, undermining the original cypherpunk, intermediary-free vision of Bitcoin by rebuilding traditional surveillance architecture onto the blockchain.
(Source：BeInCrypto)